The Divine Boot – a ruff draght.

According to the bumper stickers: "S*** Happens."
What a stink.
What a mess.
And of course, Why Me?

And while the "what" may not really matter, for me it was the sudden loss of a job. Words really don't help much. Virgil Fry offers a list of comments that mourners would rather not hear. I'm compiling a list of similar statements for the unemployed. [Comments like: "Things will turn out really good, you'll see." Or, "I'm sure God has something really good planned for you." Perhaps you'd like to offer some as comments to this post.] I've never been sure if they are intended to comfort the one hurting or the one doing the comforting.

Now that I've had some time to process, I'm finding a technique called reframing helpful. Reframing is the term psychologists use for looking at things from a different point of view. Here's the perspective I'm working with now. I call it THE DIVINE BOOT. *

Several speakers tell a story of eagle parents teaching their young to fly. Apparently the youngsters are often bigger homebodies than many human teens. At first the parents will hover near the nest flapping their own wings. Often the babies will mimic the behavior. But not all the kids are ready to leave the nest. Mom and dad have several methods available. One is to quit bringing food. The babies raise a ruckus every time mom or dad flies by. But the folks stick to the plan. If necessary food can be provided but not enough to assuage the hunger. Another approach is to make the nest less comfortable. The soft downy feathers lining the nest are removed until the old home place is all sticks and just isn't comfortable at all. This continues until Junior decides he'd better try his own hand at hunting and begins to fly.

At night I have to use a similar method to get the cat into his special room. I say "Okay, time for bed." The cat just lies there waiting for me to offer some reward for movement. I walk around behind him, take my foot and push his little behind until he starts moving. I guess there are some who work a little harder and offer more of a boot than a nudge.

In the earliest scenes in the biblical book of Acts, the Divine Instructions foretell the spread of the Good News from Jerusalem to Judea and then on to the utmost parts of the world. Seven chapters later the group is still huddled together. That changes when Stephen is martyred and the authorities begin to persecute followers of The Way. I'd call that a Divine Boot, wouldn't you? Facing imprisonment and persecution, Christians leave town and finally head out into the world.

This image of a Divine Boot allows me to reframe the job situation into a focus on the future instead of an autopsy of the past. This phase is over. Where do we go from here?

Say, you wouldn't happen to know of any good jobs would ya?
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* I need to credit Stephen Farrell for the term, The Divine Boot.